All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, 26 January 1911, Page 174

All Sorts

The estimated population of Canada a year ago last March was 7,185,000. Rain falls more frequently between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m. than at any other time. , / '■*&' Attempts at aviation that met with some degree of success were made by an Italian priest in 1751. The Franciscan has the largest number of Bishops of any of the Orders in the Churcji. At present it numbers forty, two of whom are Cardinals. The first company organised for the illumination of streets by artificial light made from coal was that at Preston, Lancashire, England, in 1794, and the discovery of the process is due to the Jesuits of Stonyhurst. Mother: ' Jimmy, there were three apples in the cupboard, and now there is only one. How is that?' Jimmy: 'I don't know, ma, unless I overlooked it.' ' Have you anything in oil, suitable for the dining room ?' asked the lady shopper in a department store. 'Certainly, madam,' replied the floorwalker. 'Which would you like—floor oil, salad oil, oil paintings, or sardines ' I like your choir,' said the visitor. « Indeed!' said the gratified President of the Musical Society. ' Yes; they have grit. They think for themselves. They do not allow their efforts to be diverted by the mere mechanical accuracy of the organ.' A school teacher in ibne of the lower grades once asked, ' What is wind ?' After a thoughtful pause, a small hand was raised. ' Well, Robert, what is your answer ?' ' Whyer, the wind is the air when it gets in a hurry,' answered Robert. ' Happiness,' declaimed the philosopher, 'is in the pursuit of something, not in the catching of it.' ' Have you ever,' interrupted the plain citizen, 'chased the last car on a rainy night?' Smith threw down his newspaper in disgust. ' It's shameful,' he exclaimed, the way these 'ere colleges waste money on furniture! 'Ere's an account of somebody giving Harvard forty thousand dollars for a new chair.' Hubby (with irritation): Why is it that you women insist upon having the last word?' Wife (calmly): 'We don't. The only reason we get it is because we always have a dozen arguments left when you stupid men are all run out.' The rocking stone of Tandil is a natural curiosity in the Argentine Republic, perhaps the largest in the worldthree miles from Tandil, a small village, which may be reached by railway 250 miles south of Buenos Aires. The giant, mushroom-shaped quartz boulder stands upon the summit of some picturesque hills, perhaps a thousand feet in height. It weighs over 700 tons, and it rocks in the wind and may be made to crack a walnut. Yet this boulder is so firm that one of the old dictators, Rossas by name, once harnessed a thousand horses to it and was unable to displace it. There are several rocking stones scattered about the world, though none nearly so large. The famous musician Joseph Haydn was the son of - a poor wheelwright at Rohrau, in Lower Austria. His father played on the harp, to the music of which his mother would often add that of her charming voice. This it was which first awoke the musical talents of the great composer. One day, when he was in company with several other distinguished musicians, the question arose as to the best way or refreshing the mind when one is wearied with mentallabor. For my part' said one, 'I find nothing so effective as a glass of good wine.' Another remarked: 'When my ideas begin to flag, I quit my work and go into company. And how is it with you, Haydn?' asked one of his companions. 'I take to my Rosary, which I always carry about me,' he answered, modestly. 'After a few decades I am sure to feel refreshed both in body and in Salt-cellars may be said to have been in use in prehistoric times Homer declared that salt was a gift of the gods. J.he Greeks and Romans gave the salt-cellar the place of honor at their banquets, and every effort of craftsmen was employed to make it an object of beauty. Saltcellars were often heirlooms, handed down with great care from father to son. During the middle ages the saltliar was the finest and most conspicuous object on the 1 table, and was placed in the centre— members of > the family and their guests occupying seats at . one end, the servants and retainers sitting at the other. This is how the phrase • to sit below the salt' came to mean 'to occupy an inferior position.' Wealthy people used salt-cellars made of gold and silver and designed by great artists. Many of these have been preserved to this day, and' are treasured in . museums. Poor people however, were content with more humble receptacles for the useful condiment, and often used a piece of bread with a place hollowed out to serve as a salt-cellar.